This pretty much sums it up. I have a drop bar 29er (well, fatbike frame) that was sold as a rigid flatbar 29+ from bikesdirect. I changed to 29x2.2 tires pretty quickly (dropbars came later) but I did one or two rides on the 3” tires. I really enjoyed the short time I ran 3” tires, but they were cheap (wire bead), were very difficult to remove from the tubeless compatible rims, and couldn’t be run tubeless. Plus, the rims were only 25mm so I think a 3” tire is pushing the limit for sure.

That being said, I felt like when the tires spun up the bike could maintain speed pretty well, although it might be more noticeable if a lot of hills are involved. The best part is that not only can they go over about everything, the they can roll fast over a lot of stuff you wouldn’t normally. For example, when the county comes and dumps a thick layer of gravel for the next X miles, you can just barrel down that like it’s nothing.

I have thought a few times about going back to that 3” width, but no one stocks a wheelset with 29+ size rim on 135/170 qr hubs, and building up a set would be more than I’d want to spend for this low-end frame.

I think a bike like the Jaroon+ or a Fargo with 3” tires would be great fun. My dream bike would be something like a Ti 29+ Fargo, but with an inch or so less stack height in my size.

Just saw this posted over at the Riding Gravel forum.